The Bulletin NEW YORK RAILWAYS’ STREET CARS QUIT
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ERA BULLETIN — JUNE, 2016 The Bulletin Electric Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated Vol. 59, No. 6 June, 2016 The Bulletin NEW YORK RAILWAYS’ STREET CARS QUIT Published by the Electric 80 YEARS AGO Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated, PO Box by Bernard Linder 3323, New York, New York 10163-3323. On June 8, 1936, buses replaced street Horse cars started operating in the second th cars on the last New York Railways line, 86 half of the Nineteenth Century with each For general inquiries, Street Crosstown. This company, which oper- company usually operating only one line. The contact us at bulletin@ ated most of the Manhattan’s street cars, Metropolitan Traction Company, which was erausa.org. ERA’s converted to bus rapidly as shown in the fol- incorporated on February 19, 1886, acquired website is lowing table: the capital stock of seven horse car compa- www.erausa.org. LINE DATE STREET BUSES nies until the company’s name was changed Editorial Staff: CONVERTED CARS to the Metropolitan Traction Company of New Editor-in-Chief: th York on August 4, 1892. The company was Bernard Linder 4 & Madison February 1, 56 89 Avenue 1935 able to create a unified system by buying Tri-State News and eight additional companies, after which it Commuter Rail Editor: th Ronald Yee 8 Avenue November 12, 40 55 sold its assets to the Metropolitan Street 1935 North American and World Railway on September 14, 1897. News Editor: 9th & Amsterdam November 12, 19 27 Meanwhile the unpredictable happened. An Alexander Ivanoff Avenue 1935 obscure 1.57-mile Mount Vernon trolley line Contributing Editor: Jeffrey Erlitz Broadway-7th February 12, 55 86 was able to acquire the giant Manhattan Met- Avenue 1936 ropolitan Street Railway. Operating from the Production Manager: New Haven station to Columbus Avenue at David Ross Columbus & Le- February 12, nox Avenue 1936 the city line, the North Mount Vernon Railway Company, which was incorporated April 20, 7th Avenue March 6, 1936 46 35 ©2016 Elect ric 1892, tried battery cars, then converted to Railroaders ’ 8th Street Cross- March 6, 1936 11 15 horse cars, both of which were unsuccessful. Association, town The company never made a profit and was Incorporate d th 6 Avenue March 12, 1936 26 40 sold to the New York, Westchester & Con- necticut Traction Company on January 16, Lex-Lenox Ave- March 25, 1936 63 75 1900. The latter, which was incorporated on nue February 12, 1895, operated a 2.86-mile line In This Issue: 116th Street April 1, 1936 10 16 in Mount Vernon from the New Haven station From Crosstown to East Lincoln Avenue at the city line. On 34th Street Cross- April 1, 1936 37 41 December 9, 1901, the company leased its Recognition to town property and franchises, and relinquished Dominance— rd North Mount Vernon to the Interurban Street 23 Street Cross- April 8, 1936 30 32 The New York town Railway, which was incorporated on Novem- Connecting th ber 25, 1901. After completing several trans- 14 Street Cross- April 20, 1936 42 45 actions, Interurban was able to lease the Railroad town Metropolitan Street Railway and was in sub- (Continued) 86th Street Cross- June 8, 1936 9 24 stantial control of the entire street surface …Page 2 town railway system of Manhattan, the Bronx, and TOTAL 444 580 (Continued on page 4) NEXT TRIP: BLACK RIVER & WESTERN1 RAILROAD — SATURDAY, JUNE 18 NEW YORKERA DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN — JUNE, OCTOBER, 2016 2000 FROM RECOGNITION TO DOMINANCE: THE NEW YORK CONNECTING RAILROAD (BRIDGING THE BAY AND CONNECTING THE PIECES) by George Chiasson (Continued from May, 2016 issue) (Continued on page 3) 2 ERA BULLETIN — JUNE, 2016 From Recognition to Dominance (Continued from page 2) (Continued on page 7) 3 NEW YORKERA DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN — JUNE, OCTOBER, 2016 2000 New York Railways Street Cars Quit 80 Years Ago (Continued from page 1) Half open car 2205. Open car 280. Bernard Linder collection Bernard Linder collection Horse car 32. Horse car in the snow. Bernard Linder collection Bernard Linder collection Interior of horse car. Underground conduit construction at W. 109th Street and Manhat- Bernard Linder collection tan Avenue, June 9, 1915. Bernard Linder collection (Continued on page 5) 4 ERA BULLETIN — JUNE, 2016 New York Railways Street Cars Quit 80 Years Ago (Continued from page 4) Metropolitan Street Railway at Cooper Union. New York Railways cars on Delancey Street, April 30, 1919. Bernard Linder collection Bernard Linder collection New York Railways car 1589 in Central Park, June 7, 1936. Eighth and Ninth Avenue Railway rear shed at W. 155th Street, just Bernard Linder collection after the first of April 19, 1933. Bernard Linder collection Delancey Street, 1919. New York Railways car 4024 at W. 146th Street and Lenox Avenue. Bernard Linder collection Bernard Linder collection (Continued on page 6) 5 NEW YORKERA DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN — JUNE, OCTOBER, 2016 2000 New York Railways Street Cars Quit 80 Years Ago operation on December 31, 1911. A new company, New York Railways Company, started operating the remain- (Continued from page 5) ing Manhattan street car lines on January 1, 1912. The following subsidiaries were separated and later the southern part of Westchester County with the ex- returned to New York Railways as shown in the follow- ception of a horse car line between Bartow Station and City Island. To properly identify the company with New COMPANY SEPARATED FROM RETURNED TO NEW YORK NEW YORK York City, the name was changed to New York City Rail- RAILWAYS RAILWAYS way Company on February 10, 1904. After the new subway opened on October 27, 1904, New York & Harlem February 1, 1920 December 17, 1932 street car riding declined appreciably and the company Eighth Avenue Rail- August 1, 1919 June 1, 1935 (A) was on the verge of bankruptcy. To bolster the compa- road ny’s finances, a new holding company, Interborough- Ninth Avenue Rail- October 1, 1919 June 1, 1935 (A) Metropolitan, was created on January 14, 1906. It tried road to acquire the capital stock of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, which was profitable, and the street ing table: railways , which were not profitable. When the Metropol- (A) Companies were merged into Eighth & Ninth Ave- itan declared bankruptcy late in 1907, IRT refused to nue Railways on December 22, 1926 support the bankrupt system. Meanwhile, the company After the Contract 3 and 4 subway lines were opened, disintegrated gradually. Second Avenue Railroad was New York Railways riding declined appreciably and rush separated on November 13, 1908 and Third Avenue hour service was reduced from 911 cars in 1919 to 444 Railroad, the largest and oldest, resumed independent cars at abandonment, 1935-6. Car 1308 on 86th Street Crosstown. Car 240 at W. 23rd Street Ferry, 1920. Car was part of a series sold Bernard Linder collection to Third Avenue Railway in 1924 and renumbered to 401-527. Bernard Linder collection (Continued in August, 2016 issue) Around New York’s Transit System on the other side of the fence (so to speak), City Coun- cil member David Greenfield, representing Midwood, (Continued from page 20) applauds the plan to restore the F express in Brooklyn. F that calls for some trains to operate express for the The riders from Park Slope will have G from Church first time in over 30 years between Church Avenue and Avenue to Bergen Street to supplement the loss of F Jay Street with an intermediate stop at Seventh Avenue. service, but the bottom line is that G does not go to It is proposed to take effect as part of a service change Manhattan. At this time, it is not possible to add any planned for the summer of 2017, While it reduces travel additional F trains to replace the service lost from the times to Jay Street and Manhattan by six to seven local stops due to fleet size limitations (insufficient cars minutes for the 48% of the line’s riders traveling to and in the fleet to support adding more consists). from Church Avenue and points south, 52% of the line’s W to be Restored riders will experience a decrease in service in the form The MTA Board approved the restoration of W from of fewer and more crowded trains stopping at their sta- th Whitehall Street to Astoria/Ditmars Boulevard starting in tions, including Fort Hamilton Parkway, 15 Street, Ber- November to replace the current Q service to Astoria, gen Street, Carroll Street, Fourth Avenue, and Smith- which will be diverted from 57th Street-Seventh Avenue Ninth Street. These bypassed stations include the Park via the new Second Avenue Subway to 96th Street when Slope section of Brooklyn, whose City Council member, it opens in December. Brad Lander, has vowed to oppose this plan. However, 6 ERA BULLETIN — JUNE, 2016 From Recognition to Dominance (Continued from page 3) (Continued on page 8) 7 NEW YORKERA DIVISION BULLETIN BULLETIN — JUNE, OCTOBER, 2016 2000 From Recognition to Dominance (Continued from page 7) (Continued next issue) 8 ERA BULLETIN — JUNE, 2016 Commuter and Transit Notes No. 331 by Ronald Yee and Alexander Ivanoff Metropolitan Transportation Authority Wakefield, with passengers using 2 to 241st Street- MTA is taking its first steps toward mobile or e- White Plains Road and walking ½-mile to the Wakefield ticketing on its commuter railroads by utilizing a ticket- Metro-North station. New Haven passengers rode the ing app designed for mobile devices. Developed in con- NYC Transit 2 (5 rush hours) to 233rd Street and junction with the British-based Masabi Corporation, the walked ¼-mile downhill to the Woodlawn Metro-North ticketing system will initially be used on the Long Island station where New Haven Line trains were being termi- Rail Road’s Port Washington Branch and Metro-North nated and turned back eastward.